Study Guide - Menemsha Films

THE ROUND-UPSSUMMER 1942Round-ups of male Jews, demanded by the Germansand carried out with the full cooperation of the Frenchpolice, had begun in May and August 1941, before theNazis' decision in Autumn of that year to annihilate Europe'sJews. Under Adolf Eichmann, planning for thethree Nazi-occupied western European nations (France,Belgium, Holland) began in June 1942. On June 15,after two convoys had already left France headed forAuschwitz, the quota for France for 1942 was fixed at40,000 deportees.Theodor Dannecker, Eichmann's representative in Paris,led negotiations with René Bousquet, the French government'sSecretary of Police. The Germans sought thecollaboration of the French police in occupied Franceand the handing over by Vichy of Jews in the Free Zone.On July 2, they reached an agreement: 20,000 foreignJews would be arrested in occupied France and 10,000more in the Free Zone. In return, Vichy would be givencomplete control of French police forces. On July 3, Pétainand Laval, the prime minister, ratified the agreement.Laval stated that the government wasunconcerned by Jewish children in occupied France andspontaneously offered to deport Jewish children whoseparents were rounded up in the Free Zone.THE FILMThe director has chosen to use two differenttechniques. The "composed" scenes— daily life and inside the Winter Velodrome— are shot with the camera on acrane, dolly or tripod. The scenes of violenceare shot with mobile cameras: thefamilies' separation at the Beaune-La-Rolande camp is filmed with three cameras,one handheld and two steadicams.In the apartment building during theround-up, the cameraman and handheldcamera are in the middle of the actorsand extras, being jostled by them at theheart of the action.THE WINTER VELODROME ROUND-UPIn Occupied France, the first arrests were made on July 13.In the Paris area, the Winter Velodrome round-up—codename Operation Spring Wind—was carried out byFrench police forces on July 16-17. 13,152 Jews, including4,115 children, mostly born in France, were arrested in theirhomes using the file of Jews kept at Police HQ. Gendarmes,plain-clothes inspectors and police trainees, nearly 7,000men in total, took part in the operation, which rounded upwomen and children for the first time. Single adults weresent to Drancy internment camp. The families—8,160 people—wereheld at the Winter Velodrome for 3-5 days, thentransported to the camps in the Loiret region.